You Are The Prayer
Dear Reader,
I’ve come to the happy observation that my poetry here is turning into a collection. This poem is a “sister poem” to a previously published work entitled Born in the Air. You Are the Prayer is for my community and is a call to rising, remembrance, and resilience.
You Are the Prayer
Black boy
Black girl
Black family
Black community
You are the prayer.
The sacred ones
Prayed over
Prayed for
Lifted high in love.
Anointed
Beloved
Your grandmother, knees to earth,
Caught a vision of you.
She poured herself into God’s divinity
Spoke your name into the wind.
Declared: No weapon formed against my kin shall prosper.
And y’all rose.
With shining faces
Eyes filled with dawn
Beaming,
Because the prayer marked you
Chosen.
Protected.
Skin so deep and dark
Hair coiled tight with glory.
So textured, so divine
Even God had to pause
And marvel.
You are the prayer
Whispered by the founding mothers
You are the prayer
Still resting in the in the in-between
Until it’s time
To fly.
